Not quite cross-cultural desserts

The theme for last night’s Great British Bake Off was desserts. It was a bevy of sweetness with creme brulées, Spanish Windtortes (a massive meringue cake) and triple cheesecakes. Yum yum all round at the Great British dinner table.

So this morning I ask my eldest what she would say was a classic Dutch dessert. Without hesitation she answered “yogurt”. “Hmm, ok,” I say, “but what if was a special occasion?” “Oh,” she says. “Then it would be yogurt with strawberries.”
*sigh

Translation tip: watch out next time you want to translate the Dutch word ‘toetje’ as ‘dessert’ in English. It can conjour up quite different ideas to your readers in the UK, US, France, Germany, Spain, Australia, South Africa and wherever else.

Tori Kelly – Bluebell Communications

English born and bred, Dutch resident since 1995. Copywriter and translator since 2002. Fervent cook and baker.
Loves having a variety of work on the go and is up for a challenge yet likes a bit of mundane monotony every now and then.
Fastidious about principles such as using English native speakers to write and translate into English or using the target language as the teaching language. Almost as fastidious about the English language itself.
Wonderfully content working from home, talking to people from across the globe (and especially happy with today's technologies that help me do that). Really enjoy getting out and about meeting people - and then coming home to write about them.